Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova — who this weekend told a room full of people in London, "Come on, guys, it's better to be skinny than to be fat!" — is not apologizing for her comments. But by way of explanation, she says she was kinda joking, and that her comments were (wait for it) taken out of their light-hearted context by reporters. Also, she just got back from China, so. Writing on her Facebook page, Vodianova says:

On the background of arriving from China where most people leave under the poverty line and have to share food and watch how much they eat to survive and on the background of how I grew up where sometimes I had to skip meals so there would be food for my little disabled sister and that feeling of missing bread so much some days because on some days we had no money to buy any (reason I had ulcers as little girl was constant irregular eating) could give an explanation why I felt moved to give another prospective on this issue.

I felt angry actually now I think about it. Our industry is scrutinised for giving false image and criteria of beauty and provoking eating disorders however there are other industries that might be even more to blame like food industry that constantly reinventing ways of pushing food on us. Makes people stuff fridges with food, buying pills, millions of books on diets, shopping for the right clothes to hide those extra few pounds, beauty products. I guess some would say that's what makes our economy go around. Yes, I choose to do more and eat less. Sorry world economy, I am a bad client!

Yes, the food industry is fucked up. Yes, the diet industry is fucked up, too. And yes, the fashion industry and media's contributions to a culture of negative body image and feeling never good-enough — unless you buy, buy, buy! — deserve scrutiny. That still doesn't mean it's "better to be skinny than fat." [Facebook]

Pink-haired model Charlotte Free is the newest face of Maybelline, as confirmed by this cute video starring that dude from the "Shit Fashion Girls Say" video and...everyone in fashion. [WWD]

Refinery29 sent a photographer to New York's City Hall steps to talk to couples who were getting married there. The resulting slideshow should be heart-warming to all but the hardest of wedding-grinches. Neon ombré lace dress bride, you are amazing. [Refinery29]

Issey Miyake and his Reality Lab have won an "Oscar" from the Design Museum of London, beating out Phoebe Philo's fall, 2011, Céline collection and Alexander McQueen, which was nominated as a house twice (once for the hugely popular Met show "Savage Beauty," and once for Kate Middleton's wedding dress). [IHT]

Mark Fast, meanwhile, won the fashion award at the inaugural Body Confidence Awards in the U.K. The event was sponsored by Erin O'Connor's charity, All Walks Beyond The Catwalk, and M.P. Jo Swinson. [Vogue UK]

Tavi Gevinson says she runs the site she founded, Rookie, from the big-picture level down to the everyday stuff. She works one month ahead of time to develop the "mood board" that will define a month's worth of content, sets the monthly theme, and writes. And from day-to-day, "I look at everything the night before it goes up. I'll change a headline, or have a couple last minute notes. I write some of the pieces. I order the photos and upload it into WordPress and everything." Rookie makes money through advertising and occasional sponsored posts, and has plans to branch out into live events for its readers around the country, but doesn't currently have the capital and may negotiate sponsorship. Gevinson turned 16 last weekend. [BoF]

Uniqlo may be launching online shopping in the U.S. sooner than expected. AdAge obtained an "agency outreach" document from Uniqlo to various ad agencies, outlining the Japanese retailer's plans for a "digital flagship" to be launched by this October. Uniqlo has been open about its aggressive expansion plans in the U.S. market, where it currently has only three New York stores (a fourth is planned for San Francisco). But the chain has been relatively cagey about its plans for online retail in this country (it already has e-tail in the U.K. and in Japan). Uniqlo's competitor Zara has online shopping in the U.S., and H&M announced it will by the end of 2012. Uniqlo would not confirm the authenticity of the document and said in a statement it had "no solid plans" to expand its online store to the U.S. [AdAge]

The ever-humbleTyson Beckford says he wasn't an immediate sensation when he started modeling. "As a kid I had bad teeth and crazy hair. I was as skinny as a rail. I remember going to castings, walking in, and the man at the front desk informing me, 'Deliveries are round the back.' That sort of racism was fairly common. Of course I also got grief from my male friends back home, who thought my job was to walk around in a thong the entire time. But then the ads started coming out: rocking up in a Ferrari tends to shut people up." In 1993, when he became a face of Ralph Lauren, things started looking up for ol' Ty-Ty. Sometimes he would even be paid too much money for a job. "Yes! I once walked in a fashion show ­— literally, just walked -­ for no more than a minute or two and they paid me a silly amount of money...$40,000." He says in the '90s, fashion was more fun. "The parties were out of control and because no one had a camera phone and there was no Facebook or Twitter, you could do whatever you wanted with whoever you wanted." [Mr. Porter]

Kelly Cutrone says she knows who will be replacing Nigel Barker, Mr. Jay, and Miss J. on America's Next Top Model, but she can't name any names. BryanBoy, who had been touted as a potential new judge, says he is not in talks with the show. [Fashionista]

Brooklyn Industries has decided that this summer, it's going to solve racism. Good luck, guys! [Racked]

Simon Doonan of Barneys New York explains how he got started in the excited, fast-paced industry of window-dressing: "I got my first shot at windows through a bloke I was dating called Brian Bale. He used to let me help him with his freelance gigs, one of which was an Irish souvenir shop. Hello! The first time I was allowed to do wacky and creative displays was at a trendy tailor shop on Savile Row called Tommy Nutter. When Mick got married to Bianca he wore one of Tommy's suits. That's where I met Tommy Perse of Maxfield who brought me to live in LA when I was 25 and young and pretty, back in the 1970s." [Exposed Zippers]

Calvin Klein's on-again-off-again model/pornstar boy-toy, Nick Gruber, was arrested for misdemeanor assault after allegedly punching a 20-year-old man. A search of his person turned up cocaine, so now he's in trouble for that, too. [TMZ]

And now, a moment with Hamish Bowles. Hamish, before you were a big-shot at American Vogue, how did you get into fashion week?

"I crashed a lot of shows because I was at St. Martins studying fashion. We obviously weren't invited, so we had to concoct all manner of innovative schemes to get in...People would invent fictive magazines and create mastheads for them. But I know a friend who actually created a fictive magazine and managed to be invited to most of the shows for about four or five seasons before people realized that there was never any product. And by then, he was actually working for, I think, Japanese Vogue."